Nexus of forces could spell substantial network overhauls

Gartner has coined the term "nexus of forces" to describe the colliding cloud, mobile and social markets. The analyst group's focuson this nexus is indicative of the currently reality that IT managers face - they aren't responding to the rise of a single technology or trend, they are attempting to simultaneously adapt to a number of emerging technologies that intertwine in a variety of ways. When cloud, mobile and social tools intersect, there is at least one common denominator - network challenges.

Network challenges brought on by nexus of forces
Traditional data center models are being disrupted by cloud, mobile and social solutions, leading to more data traveling in more directions. The end result is a greater need to streamline transmissions in some parts of the network while adding more network channels in others. This is not necessarily feasible using traditional Ethernet architectures. While Ethernet can be adjusted to handle large amounts of bandwidth, doing so often depends on complex cabling architectures that are difficult to manage.

Many companies find themselves responding to this challenge by turning to fiber when possible. Fiber is an ideal solution in parts of the data center that require a small number of network links, but a significant amount of data. For example, fiber can be ideal when interconnecting storage environments to servers, but but fiber may not make sense dealing with connections between servers. As a result, an all-fiber data center is not a particularly viable option.

Fiber to Ethernet media converters can come in handy to help organizations maximize the value and performance of their data centers.

Using media converters in response to emerging technologies
Cloud, mobile and social technologies demand data responsiveness. Businesses expect to operate more quickly and efficiently when taking advantage of these solutions, and the technologies that support operations must be equipped to respond accordingly. This includes the network. Major network upgrades may be necessary to get companies ready to handle cloud, social and mobile use on a large scale.

Making these upgrades, however, is another matter entirely. It is often extremely costly and complex. Furthermore, organizations must consider the future when making cabling and network architecture changes. Media converters position organizations to overcome these problems by helping them keep costs under control and establish flexibility in the configuration. Flexibility could prove critical moving forward as cloud, social and mobile technologies are still maturing.

Perle has an extensive range of Managed and Unmanaged Fiber Media Converters to extended copper-based Ethernet equipment over a fiber optic link, multimode to multimode and multimode to single mode fiber up to 160km.